The Penguin Star Colin Farrell Reveals Pivotal Scene Cut from the Finale Episode

The Penguin is being hailed as one of the best TV shows of the year – and the Finale has universally praised as a high point for the show to go out on. (SPOILERS) The Penguin Episode 8 finally revealed to viewers – beyond any shadow of a doubt – that Oswald Cobb (Colin Farrell) was a total sociopath, incapable of true love and connection. However, one scene that showrunner Lauren LeFranc and director Jennifer Getzinger ultimately cut from the episode might’ve changed viewer’s perception of that…

Colin Farrell Reveals The Penguin Finale’s Deleted Scene

Colin Farrell and the cast of The Penguin have been out doing press since the finale episode premiered. While speaking with Cinemablend, Farrell revealed that there was a pivotal scene inlcuded in Episode 8:

“There was a scene in the eighth episode where a kid says, ‘You’re the Penguin, aren’t you,’ and then something about his mother. And then I say to him at the end of the scene, ‘You tell your mom, The Penguin takes care of his own.’”

It’s not hard to see why this scene was cut from The Penguin Episode 8: it bucked the thematic trend of the episode. “A Great or Little Thing” was all about stripping away the lies and facade and finally forcing Oz’s mask to fall off, and reveal his true face. That moment comes around the time when his mob rival Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) has his mother Francis’ (Deirdre O’Connell) finger in a cigar-cutter, and Oz still wouldn’t come clean about how he left his brother Jack and Benny to die. By the end of the episode Oz’s true depravity is on full display: he coldly murders his young sidekick Victor (Rhenzy Feliz); keeps his mother captive in a vegetative state (when she made him promise to end her life), and even making his “lady” Eve Karlo (Carmen Ejogo) dress up as his mom and feed his insatiable ego. Oh, and he also inspired every gang lieutenant in Gotham to kill their boss and serve under him.

With The Penguin Finale painting such a definitive portrait of the monster inside the man, it might’ve been hard for some viewers to reconcile a scene of Oz trying to look like a hero to a kid. It definitely might’ve been too on-the-nose to have The Penguin name-dropped in that way – especially if it was during the scene where Oz steps out in Penguin’s signature suit and top hat. And for a show that rightfully earned its rep as a hard-boiled mob drama, it arguably would’ve been a bit too “comic book-y” in tone. Conceptually, it could’ve worked though: a grim reminder that Penguin is passing down the same misguided impression of greatness on a kid that gangster Rex Calabrese had on him.

The Penguin is now streaming on Max.